Full Circle...One year Hook Up....

[Guest guest]

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I have come full circle in my CI journey. I am sooo excited with

how far I have come! I have to share it. This holiday season was

unbelievablly awesome! It was my first hearing holiday season! Two

years ago, as in past years, everything was muffled and last year I

was totally deaf while waiting for my hook up. But this holiday

season was terriffic! I have looked forward to hearing the sounds

of the holiday season all year long! I was thrilled to be able to

hear and understand most of the Christmas songs on my first 2 CDs

that I recieved. And decorating had never been so much fun as I

discovered the sounds some of my decorations make. I have also

been eagerly waiting to hear just how loud the neighborhood is on New

Year's Eve. I am usually a pot banger myself that night but this

year I just stood on our doorstep in awe of all the noise as I

listened to car horns, voices yelling (couldn't understand them

though but I heard the neighbors, voices) and pots and pans banging

and firecrackers too. I just stood there with a big smile on my face

taking it all in! A biggie for me is that I am starting to really be

able to keep up with what the topic is when my family gets together

for holiday dinners.

It has indeed been quite a year! One year ago today

(2January2003) I was hooked up to my Body worn processor and what a

happy day it was even though I could not understand much speech that

day! I did understand 3 sentences though without lipreading but

after that I didn't start getting speech distinction until 3 months

after hook up when I was mapped based solely on my youngest sister's

voice. I couldn't stand her high pitched voice so after getting more

bass put into my programs and the edges of the highs and lows rounded

off, speech discrimination started kicking in and I started

recognizing my name being called from a few feet away...WOW, never

ever aknowledged my name being called until then...took 40 yrs to

accomplish that!! 8-) On hook up day, it was just awesome to hear

my family's voices after soooo many years of muffled sounds. And

it was wonderful to hear all the environmental sounds around me that

day. I am in awe with all the sounds! There have been many sounds I

have never heard before and I can't believe what an incredible year

it's been discovering the new sounds and rediscovering sounds I heard

a good long time ago. Once I had my first " ahhh this is nice map " , 3

months, after hook up, I started seriously doing A/V therapy

exercises to better help my discrimination along. I will be forever

grateful to the friend who shared her exercises with me because I

couldn't find an A/V therapist in my area. Pennsylvania has only

one qualified A/V therapist to work with adults or so I was told. The

exercises became a family affair. My Dad did them with me and my

nieces and nephews were eager to help out too when they visited.

With the exercises, I could tell what sounds I was having troubles

with and those observations helped with future mappings that gave me

my second and third " Ahhh this is sooo nice " maps.

Despite balance problems, from the surgery, I am sooo very glad I

got implanted! It's better than any hearing aid I have ever worn in

my whole life! I still rely on lipreading to communicate. Old

habits are hard to break. But, the CI had made lipreading even

easier! One on one conversations are terriffic! Two or more

depends on the situation. Sometimes I can keep up with the topic and

sometimes no. I have been having some successful phone chats with

my siblings in the past few months. As I stated earlier, I have

discovered many new sounds over the year. I couldn't believe a

locust makes noise! I found that out on a crabbing vacation this

summer. I love the sound of running water. It still takes me a long

time to wash the dishes as I like to give them an extra long rinse

just to hear the water. I've learned a lesson about loud bells in

the Fall. I volunteer my time helping out an older kindergarten

teacher and during the first week of school I heard a loud bell and

mistakenly thought it was a fire drill since the bell was LOUD. Yes,

I took the class out for the drill. I was wondering why none of the

other classes were coming out also. Turned out that what I heard

was a janitor's service bell and not a fire bell. 8-) The staff all

got a kick out it and told me that the fire bell is the same tone but

it will keep ringing. So now I know.

It's been quite an exciting year and one I am very glad to have

experienced!

Best wishes to all of you who are just starting on your journey to

better hearing, good luck to all those facing surgery and hook up.

Continued success to all of you who are well passed hook up. And my

very best wishes go to those of you who are still struggling with the

CI. It's my hope that you will someday soon have your " Ahhh this is

sooo nice! " map.

Thank you, everyone, for such a supportive forum to come to. I

have learned sooo much from you all.

Happy New Year Everyone!

May 2004 be a happy and healthy year for you and your families!

Velma

N24C 11/25/02 (What A Day!)

Hook Up Day BWP 1/2/03 (A Happy Day!)

3G 1/31/03 (An Even Happier Day!)